Comcast squeezing 'more favorable' prices from set-top vendors in Q3 2011

Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is squeezing better prices from set-top vendors, with CFO Mike Angelakis attributing a 4.9 percent decrease in capital spending during the third quarter to "more favorable pricing" for customer premise equipment. The nation's largest cable MSO, which uses set-tops from Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI), Cisco (Nasdaq: CSCO), Pace (LSE: PIC) and Samsung, said it spent $1.3 billion on capital expenditures during the quarter.

Click here for details of Comcast's Q3 2011 earnings results.

While Comcast lost 165,000 video subscribers in the third quarter, the company lost fewer customers than Wall Street analysts had expected. It saw cable revenue increase 5 percent to $9.3 billion, thanks to increased high-speed data and telephone subscribers and business services revenue.

Comcast added 261,000 high-speed Internet subscribers during the third quarter, and it picked up 133,000 voice customers. Also worth noting from Comcast's third-quarter earnings report and investor call:

• The average monthly bill for a Comcast subscriber during Q3 was $139, up 8 percent from this time last year.
• About 36 percent of Comcast customers subscribe to its triple-play bundle of digital video, high-speed Internet and voice services. About 70 percent of Comcast video customers also subscribe to either phone or Internet service.
• Comcast's business services unit saw revenue jump 32 percent during the third quarter, and is generating about $2 billion in annual revenue for the company.
• Roberts said Comcast has upgraded all of its systems to DOCSIS 3.0.
• Comcast-owned NBC has sold out about 90 percent of the advertising inventory for its coverage of Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis, NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke said.

For more:
- see Comcast's Q3 earnings release

Special report: Sizing up the cable industry in Q3 of 2011

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